The purpose of this thesis was to examine the genetic structure of the North Yorkshire coast, comparing the traditionally insular fishing settlements to the surrounding rural populace. Specifically it was thought that the fishing villages might approximate the conditions of the stepping-stone model, which could then be tried and tested, and compared to alternative predictions of kinship from isonymy, Male-cot's migration matrix, and isolation by distance. The results showed that the fishing communities were highly endemic; high values of kinship were obtained and were in the order of those given for other isolates. The much more mobile rural settlements provided a marked comparison. Values of kinship predicted from the various models agreed quite well with the exception of the stepping-stone model. The violation of the assumption that migration did not occur between non-adjacent settlements was thought to be responsible for this.